Pathway Courses Innovation Program

Pathway Courses Innovation Program

Pathway Courses Innovation Program

The Pathway Courses Innovation (PCI) program is a five-year effort to improve access, flexibility, and equitable outcomes for key ‘Pathway’ undergraduate courses. Pathway courses present disproportionate student outcomes (e.g. retention, GPA, major completion) and are identified as gateways to student success.

The PCI program focuses on redesigning Pathway courses to integrate equitable and inclusive pedagogies, with a secondary focus on transforming courses for hybrid and/or online settings. 

Course candidates for PCI share a variety of features:

  • They are gateway courses to the major
  • They enroll large numbers of students every quarter, every year
  • They serve diverse students
  • They present disproportionate student learning outcomes, in terms of retention, timely completion, GPA, or other factors
  • They can be redesigned and offered as online or hybrid course

What are the goals for Pathway courses? 

  1. Evidence-based, course redesign that supports the learning needs of all UC Davis students.
  2. A new standard for teaching excellence, with the goal of designing, implementing, and evaluating pedagogical approaches that improve access, flexibility, and equitable learning outcomes for all students.
  3. Streamlined online and hybrid course design and delivery.

The PCI program is in direct alignment with the UCD Boldly Go strategic plan and supports the UC-Wide 2030 plan for improvement in 4-year graduation outcomes and gap reduction.

PCI Teaching Institute

The PCI Teaching Institute is a professional learning community focused on evidence-based hybrid and online course design principles and teaching practices to provide students with rich, significant, inclusive and equitable learning experiences that celebrate UC Davis students’ diversity and promote a high degree of student engagement and academic success.

Dr. Patricia Turner facilitates the PCI Teaching Institute. Participants attend six sessions (up to 90 minutes) over the course of a quarter, with some materials to review/prepare for in-session discussion. The intent of the institute is to prepare faculty to pursue a full course redesign award under the PCI program.

PCI-Diversity, Equity, Inclusion 2023 Cohort

PCI-DEI Cohort
Front row (L to R): Sara Dye (Plant Pathology), Kathleen Cruz (Classics), Bwalya Lungu (Food Science And Technology), Irene Joe (School of Law), Ali Moghimi *Biological and Agricultural Engineering), Xianglong WangBiomedical Engineering
Zoom Row: (L to R): Julia Chamberlain (Chemistry), Hannah Minter Anderson (Human Ecology). Not pictured: Rob Furrow (Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology) and Tanuja Mishra (Design)

PCI Teaching Institute 2021 Summer Cohort

Korana Burke, Mathematics
Victoria Cross, Psychology
Joy Geng, Psychology
Sarah Lievens, Chemistry
Bwalya Lungu, Food Science & Technology
Gerardo Ochoa, Chemistry
Priscilla San Souci, Psychology
Maria Trnkova, Mathematics

Contact

PCI Inquiries can be sent to: cee@ucdavis.edu.